The Wise and Foolish Builders
Matthew
7:24-27 & Luke 6:46-49
Joseph
Van Winkle
Setting
In the Gospel of Matthew, the parable is found at the end of a series of Jesus’ teachings, commonly referred to as the Sermon on the Mount. Similarly, in the Gospel of Luke it is found at the end of a parallel series of teachings in Luke called the Sermon on the Plain. Scholars generally believe that both Matthew and Luke depend upon the same source when writing their versions of the parable of the two builders. Both Gospel writers utilize the same general form; the content is similar; and even many of the words and the way they were used are identical.[1] Because this presumed source has not survived, we cannot be certain that Jesus told the parable at the end of the Sermon / Sermons precisely as reported. All we know is that in both Matthew and Luke the parable serves to force Jesus' hearers to think seriously about his teachings and to make a decision.[2] The Gospels portray Jesus as an attorney making his final appeal to the jury to weigh all the evidence presented and make the right decision; only in this case, it is their own fate they are deciding.
Matthew identifies the hearer who acts upon what he hears as "wise" (phronimos in the Greek), which describes one with practical skill or a cautious character.[3] The term is not new to Hebrew tradition, but is firmly rooted in the wisdom tradition of Proverbs and other books like it. “In Jewish tradition the person who is regarded as wise is observant of the Torah.”[4] Wisdom does not come from simply knowing and understanding the Torah, but by acting upon that knowledge in everyday life. But in Jesus' adaptation of this view, the one who acts upon his teachings is wise. In contrast, the one who hears the teachings of Jesus, but does not act upon them is a fool. Luke omits the wisdom terminology, perhaps because his audience was primarily Gentile rather than Jewish.[5] His Gentile audience, like most modern audiences, may have been unfamiliar with the wisdom tradition.
Knowing that observing the Torah is the foundation for wisdom provides us with the key to understanding what is meant by a rock foundation. The Torah frequently pictures God, “as the rock on whom one can be secure.”[6] The foundation of rock is the same as the foundation for wisdom. Does Jesus imply that his message is the new "Torah" or even that he offers the security only God was thought to offer? Of course, Jesus' hearers could have taken the rock foundation quite literally. At the time the Sermon / Sermons were given, the Jerusalem Temple stood on a solid rock base, in stark contrast to the structures in most parts of Palestine build only on the sand.[7]
The last bit of information to consider in order to understand the parable of the two builders correctly is what destroys the fool’s house. In Matthew, it is a storm of strong winds and rain combined with a flood. The storm appears to represent calamities, whether here and now or in the eschatological future. In Hebrew tradition storms are used to symbolize both crises in this world and the final judgment of God.[8] Luke's version again omits the allusion to the Jewish tradition and only utilizes the flood as the element of destruction. His Greek word plemmura[9] here implies a flood-tide, or the overflowing of a riverbank, like the annual overflowing of the Nile along its banks, which which his Gentile audience would have been familiar.[10]
Message
Jesus uses stark contrast to force the hearer to take serious note of what he has heard and then act upon it. The teachings of Jesus are not something that people can hear (or read) and then go on about their business as if nothing had happened. Upon hearing the Gospel one must make an eternal decision for which he will be held accountable on the Day of Judgment before the Lord God Almighty. It is not enough simply to believe what Jesus says. True wisdom comes from acting upon the teachings of Jesus in the day-to-day of life. To claim to believe and yet continue to act as before is foolishness; and the fool’s house -- his or her very life -- will be utterly destroyed in the storms and floods of life. It is only in putting complete trust in Jesus Christ, and living a life according to His teachings that we gain the strength to weather the storms of this life on Earth. And it is only this sustained trusting obedience that will fit us for eternity. It is of this Spiritual and physical strength that Hultgren writes, “The one who truly hears and puts into practice the teachings of Jesus has Jesus’ own promise that he will not be overcome in times of calamity.”[11]
As a parent, the application of this parable of the two builders moves beyond my own personal relationship with the Lord to my wife’s and daughters’ relationships with Him as well. The Greek word used for house is oikia, which implies a family or household.[12] A wise man builds, or raises, his family on the foundation of the Word of God, making sure they are prepared to stand before the Lord blameless on the Day of Judgment. No greater charge has a man than to raise children strong in Faith and Prayer. If I have succeeded in everything else but fail in this, my life is a failure. But if I fail in everything else but succeed in this, my life is a success before the Glory of God. The words of Joshua ring in my ears, “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:15 NRSV).
The fool in Jesus' story is not an unbeliever who scoffs at Jesus' message. He is like the man who devotes his entire life to the service of the Lord and the study of His Word. He boldly proclaims the Gospel to everyone he meets -- a brief word to the check-out clerk at the grocery store. The insurance agent never gets away without being asked if he has made a decision yet. Every pastoral house call is blessed by the reading of the Word and intense prayer. All the while this man perpetuates the Kingdom of God, his oldest daughter, not yet out of high school, is involved with a married man, and his fourteen year old son is stealing beer with his buddies after school.
The wise man is like a man covered in tattoos from head to toe, who never graduated high school because he was too busy stealing cars to pay for the poison he shot into his veins. Somewhere in the ten years he spent in prison he asked Jesus into his life. Now he hammers nails into wood ten hours a day with men more vile and foul than he met in prison. And even though the kids are older now, they still enjoy their nightly prayers together, and Bible study twice a week. Though there may be uncomfortable silences in their conversations every now and then, he continues to demonstrate how much he and Jesus loves them, no matter what happens in this life.